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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central vs Microsoft Dynamics CRM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Busi...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
ERP (3rd), Activity Based Costing Software (2nd)
Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
CRM Customer Engagement Centers (1st), CRM (2nd), Local Government CRM (1st), Marketing Management (2nd), Sales Force Automation (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Microsoft Dynamics CRM aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is designed for ERP and holds a mindshare of 6.4%, down 6.7% compared to last year.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM, on the other hand, focuses on CRM Customer Engagement Centers, holds 25.8% mindshare, down 26.3% since last year.
ERP
CRM Customer Engagement Centers
 

Q&A Highlights

it_user514128 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 15, 2017
 

Featured Reviews

StefaanVandesompele - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides end-to-end accounting and finance module at reasonable pricing
365 Business Central integrates with Office 365 to streamline the invoice approval process. This allows businesses to manage and approve invoices efficiently within a unified system. Our organization plans to transition to the Dynamics 365 environment, where various functions will be centralized. We will consolidate everything into one system instead of maintaining multiple databases for each country with local data. Dynamics 365 is fully integrated, which should address many of our challenges when we migrate to this new environment. We look forward to seeing how it performs in practice. The project is progressing well overall, though integrating it with other tools and ensuring Dynamics 365 operates smoothly can be challenging. Dynamics 365 is user-friendly and effective. However, a deeper understanding of its technical capabilities and architecture might be necessary to optimize its use fully. The software landscape is evolving, and achieving the best reporting and functionality with just a click can be complex. A clear vision of what you want to achieve with Dynamics 365 is essential. Proper preparation and configuration are crucial to achieving the desired outcomes. This principle applies not only to Dynamics 365 but to all software packages. Understanding the system's flexibility and adaptability based on your specific business needs is key to its successful implementation. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Rishabh Chhajer - PeerSpot reviewer
Intuitive APIs, customizable design, but dashboards could improve
The most advantageous aspect of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is its periodic updates. Every quarter, Microsoft releases upgrades that address bugs and vulnerabilities. As a company governed by the Reserve Bank of India and SAP security regulations for our stock operations, we conduct periodic reviews of our applications, including Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Whenever we submit an audit report and identify bugs, we reach out to the Microsoft team for assistance. They assure us that the issues will be fixed in the next quarterly release. As a result, we have not experienced any outstanding bugs that have not been recorded or addressed.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is extremely stable as it does not rely on our in-house servers."
"Microsoft Dynamic 365 has everything we need, like Teams, Outlook, Excel, etc. I do a lot of data visualization, so I work a lot with Power BI. I bring in tables from Oracle and use Power Bi to manipulate and visualize the data. I handle all the stats and track everything that goes in and out of the company. We use all the modules, but I work primarily with Power BI, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams. They are all equally important and work together."
"All of the features are valuable, depending on where you implement them. I've done implementations in 60 countries, across 86 different companies and groups, and each company has a different reason for why they want to use it. Every single feature that I've implemented has been successful, and for some companies, where they didn't use the functionality, they have moved to external products or they've integrated into other applications."
"The initial setup is easy - because it stands on Microsoft offerings, it's simple and intuitive to use."
"The most valuable features of Business Central for me are its seamless integration with Power BI and the ability to create customized reports."
"Microsoft Dynamics NAV is brilliant and it's a different segment when comparing it with Dynamics AX. Dynamics AX is a larger product with much more features and it's aimed at a different segment of the market."
"The customer support is good. The first level of support agent in every case was able to solve the problem very quickly."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Dynamics NAV is its simplicity of accounting and receiving reports. The solution is similar to Microsoft Excel, and that similarity is good. All the functions of Microsoft Dynamics are user-friendly."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the campaign feature."
"For me, the most helpful functionalities in Microsoft Dynamics CRM are customer engagement, contact management, opportunity management, and order management. The service management features, including ticket management and handling complaints from the call center, are also very useful. One of the key benefits is the faster time to market, as it allows for quicker product delivery and better customer management. The tool also improves customer interaction through the service center, leading to better adherence to KPIs."
"The most valuable feature is that it's easy to use and can work with any Microsoft solution without problems."
"The deployment of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is easy because it's a software as a service, which eliminates the need to deploy anything in our data center."
"Compared to other partners, the most valuable aspect of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is its intuitive APIs, which are customizable and allow for the addition of multiple parameters and attributes. This feature enhances the purpose call in our services. Additionally, the learning curve for contact center agents using Microsoft Dynamics CRM is shorter than with other solution providers. Finally, the commercial aspects of Microsoft Dynamics CRM are superior to those of other solution providers."
"It integrates well with other Microsoft products."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"It's a good solution for enterprise-level companies."
 

Cons

"For a big company like us with millions of transactions, the scalability isn't enough."
"The configuration packages can be somewhat tiresome at times, and they can be slow when loading data."
"Microsoft Dynamics NAV could be improved in terms of exporting income statements and balance sheets. Currently, there is a feature, but you can only have the last three years. I spent some time trying to improve the KPI portion that exports the data, that already calculates the sub forms or subtotals, but they weren't able to break that up into different dimensions. They've now managed to crowd the separate table and you can export that, but it's only for the last three years. So, they could improve this solution by getting the chart of accounts or the account schedules to be exported, where you can go further than just three years with it."
"The solution is not best suited for larger-scale businesses."
"I work in Pakistan, and many people want desktop solutions. They don't want to work on the cloud. They want a strictly on-premises solution."
"I would like to improve the tool’s reporting and coding part."
"Microsoft Dynamics NAV could improve the reporting."
"There is a need for improvement in consolidation and multi-country master data management."
"We had to do some customizations on top and it got a bit cumbersome."
"We would like to see the tech support for this product improved, at present we are frequently waiting for a couple of days before we receive any response."
"The performance could be improved."
"The tool should be micro-services-based. If it's not already implemented, the architecture could be enhanced by transitioning to a microservices-based model. This would allow each module to be managed independently, reducing downtime and enabling teams to work autonomously on specific services."
"The product is very old."
"Microsoft Dynamics CRM is not that customizable, you can customize it, but a lot of it is still pre-built in a way that you have a lot of details in there that you don't need."
"Dynamic's management could be improved. The tech management should have better technical capabilities."
"Microsoft Dynamics could have better note-taking capabilities. It should have more preset options where you enter notes by clicking a box instead of writing them out."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The deployment cost us $70,000 and we pay around $18,000 annually for support, which we find to be expensive."
"The solution's cost is reasonable."
"There is an annual cost of using Microsoft Dynamics NAV. The cost is approximately 140,000 INR."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"The price of the solution could be reduced to improve their offering."
"$80-$100 per license, per month."
"I give the solution a seven out of ten for pricing."
"In my opinion, the fees are reasonable."
"The cost depends on a number of factors, so whoever is implementing it will need to take that into consideration before it is done."
"We have deployed the cloud-based version and it is a subscription and the price is based on the number of users using it."
"I rate the solution's pricing as a seven out of ten."
"Microsoft Dynamics CRM's price is too high."
"Microsoft often encourages customers to commit to multi-year enterprise-level agreements, such as three or five-year deals with a minimum commitment of, for example, $200,000 dollars. However, in order to acquire more customers, I believe Microsoft should offer this same rate for one-year commitments for customers who want to experience it."
"Dynamics CRM's pricing is fair."
"For the price of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, you receive a lot of comprehensive functionality. Additionally, it integrates very well. We pay approximately $100 a month to use the solution and we do not have any additional costs."
"The cost could be cheaper. I would rate them 3 out of 5."
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Answers from the Community

it_user514128 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 16, 2017
Mar 16, 2017
Dynamic CRM is “workflow” and base on email integration. CRP in Default Micrososoft Dynamic Nav only simple CRP Please see the comment below in web Key factor is where data is held The key factor in determining whether to deploy Dynamics NAV or Dynamics CRM to meet your needs will depend on where the data is held that your CRM processes need to access. If your marketing is based o...
2 out of 10 answers
it_user392145 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 14, 2017
Looking into Dynamics CRM is advisable. CRM as part of Dynamics NAV is limited, can be fine for B2B companies having little CRM requirements. For B2C Dynamics NAV CRM will often be to limited. Integration with social media is not available in CRM of Dynamics NAV. In CRM standard NAV you will find: segmentation, campagnes, tasks, interactions / contact moments, opportunities. But limited functionallity to create workflows within your sales proces (like follow up).
Mar 14, 2017
Hi,  there are certainly limitations with NAV CRM in comparison to Dynamics CRM. To understand whether your specific business requirements needs the additional features or not would require more information. In essence Dynamics CRM is about relationship management and has superb functionality for sales, marketing and customer service. NAV CRM is more an internal focussed operational tool. From the information below, I would be more concerned that you are bespoking your system to the extent indicated. This is not a recommended solution.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Retailer
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Dynamics NAV?
The platform offers a robust and comprehensive cycle for supply chain and inventory management, with features like minimum and maximum settings, dynamic monitoring of inventory levels, and integrat...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Dynamics NAV?
The pricing for Dynamics 365 Business Central is reasonable. The value for money is very high.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Dynamics NAV?
There is a need for improvement in consolidation and multi-country master data management.
What do you like most about Microsoft Dynamics CRM?
The most valuable features of Microsoft Dynamics CRM are all the filters and possible reports.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Dynamics CRM?
Costing might be a reason for concern. It could be an issue for the organization, or maybe not. It's uncertain.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Dynamics CRM?
I use the solution to manage the lead sales pipeline and enable the marketing department to maintain customer data.
 

Also Known As

Dynamics NAV, MS Dynamics NAV
Dynamics CRM, MS Dynamics CRM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Harris Farm Markets, Mister Spex GmbH, Bounce Foods, Eurofin Services SA, Medica Medizintechnik, Associated Gaskets, Onduline, Sitka Surfboard Corporation, World Animal Protection
Metro Bank, Nissan, Pandora, Delta, Haynes International, City of London, Trek and many more market leaders.
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